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rvega
Oct 24, 2003, 12:00 AM
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Last trip I took to Sequoia Kings Canyon my backpacked got skunked and still wreaks! Any good stories out there about getting bit/stung/harassed/dive bombed by critters on climbs?
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davidji
Oct 24, 2003, 12:11 AM
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In reply to: Last trip I took to Sequoia Kings Canyon my backpacked got skunked and still wreaks! Any good stories out there about getting bit/stung/harassed/dive bombed by critters on climbs?
As far as stung, there's this:
Once I was stung by a yellowjacket while belaying in southern Illinois. I was TR belaying from the ground, and handed the belay off to someone else. Didn't have to hand off the belay, but I was glad I could.
As far as furry creatures & packs, there's this:
We returned to our packs one time in the Sierra to find my partner's lunch devoured by rats (or other small furry creatures). He had a sandwich. We saw bits of it on the trail as we approached. I had a sandwich and a chocolate bar. The rats ate a circle from the center of the chocolate bar and left my sandwich alone.
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jookyhead
Oct 24, 2003, 12:15 AM
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Hmm... I got stung by a wasp on the approach to a climb, thats the best I've got so far.
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joeschmoe
Oct 24, 2003, 12:22 AM
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its off topic i know, but you could wash the bag in a 1 cup bakin soda, 1 cup peroxide, 1 tsp dish soap mixture, or use the ratio to whatever you need. it got most of the smell off my dog a while back.
i havent been stung, but do know a guy that got 20+ stings while cleaning a route. poor guy had to tie a figure 8 while batting off yellow jackets...
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rvega
Oct 24, 2003, 12:28 AM
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In reply to: its off topic i know, but you could wash the bag in a 1 cup bakin soda, 1 cup peroxide, 1 tsp dish soap mixture, or use the ratio to whatever you need. it got most of the smell off my dog a while back. i havent been stung, but do know a guy that got 20+ stings while cleaning a route. poor guy had to tie a figure 8 while batting off yellow jackets...
Actually that's great advise about washing the pack. I'll try that since all the conventional wisdom I'd been given (tomato juice etc) seemed like a bad idea for my pack. Thanks.
Ouch on your friend. :(
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mattdog
Oct 24, 2003, 12:29 AM
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In reply to: Hmm... I got stung by a wasp on the approach to a climb, thats the best I've got so far.
Out at Currahee there must have been a local yellowjacket convention... probably due to the vicinity of Georgia Tech. (snicker) While I was belaying, I got stung once on my leg, stepped on it, then another one got caught up in my ATC, so it came back and stung me twice on my arm.
Now I bring wasp and hornet killer. :twisted:
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redpiton
Oct 24, 2003, 12:31 AM
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stuck my hand in a hole on the second pitch of a climb in So. Pennsylvania and got greeted by a copperhead. luckally he was pretty lethargic and I escaped harm, but I certainly warned my second about the new friend I had made.
Also stepped on a copperhead scoping out new routes in the Red River Gorge this June. I figure my next encounter with a copperhead will be the unlucky one :roll: How many chances does a guy get??
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skecthballer
Oct 24, 2003, 12:55 AM
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one time while on a climb a bee came up and stinged me under my right eye
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c_kryll
Oct 24, 2003, 12:56 AM
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What a good topic, should be good for some laughs.
Last Aug. a group of us were visiting Rumney up by the Wiamia (sp?) wall and while we were waiting for some friends to catch up one of them stepped on a wasps nest. As we watched from about 50' away we could see our friends swatting and cursing up a storm, it was pretty funny to watch until they starting running towards us. Then we started yelling at them to run the other way!
My last incident happened at the Del. Water Gap, Pa earlier last month. I was doing an easy climb on the Cat Wall when about half way up the first pitch there was this Black Rat snake curled up in the vertical crack that I was following. Now I'm not partial to snakes while I climb and I decided to go off route about 5' and do some serious face climbing until I passed him. I yelled down to my partner to watch out for our new 'friend' on the way up.
Chris
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brutusofwyde
Oct 24, 2003, 1:02 AM
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Carrying a 90-pound haul bag up the third/fourth class scruffy buttress to the base of West Buttress El Capitan, multiple hornet stings in armpit, groin, neck... turns out I had kicked their burrow. Now I carry an epi pen. Had to abort the attempt.
Mt Waddington, Rainy Knob on the Tiedemann Glacier... Nurse Ratchet and I went up to do some self-arrest drills on a rest day. Got stung by a bee, inside my waterproof rain pants. He must have been attracted to the bright colors (?) and been inside the pants when I put them on.
Stepped over a timber rattler on the descent from South Face Lone Pine Peak. He started rattling after I had passed... Didn't see him. I can see why it's usually the second person hiking in a group gets bit.
Brutus
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strider
Oct 24, 2003, 1:02 AM
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While following the first pitch of After Six on Maunre Pile this summer I found a wasp nest about halfway up. Once I saw them I just started climbing as fast as I could and yanked out the pro as I climbed past. When i got to the belay there were four pieces hanging on the rope on my harness. The funny thing was my leader never noticed a single wasp on the way up, so when he saw me start running up the climb, leaving the pro on the rope and waving an arm around he thought I was crazy.
-n
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hawgdrver
Oct 24, 2003, 1:03 AM
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esoteric1
Oct 24, 2003, 1:34 AM
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I woulda replied to this one but its rvega`s
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flagstaff_climber
Oct 24, 2003, 2:02 AM
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I was stung twice this year at the Oakcreek Overlook. Once I was onsighting a 5.9 trad and about halfway up I reached out to a seductive looking side pull only to have about 15 wasp boil out of it.
They gave pursuit all the way to the ground, but only one got me.
The other was at the crux of a trad route, I gave battle for 5 minutes and got at least 4 confirmed kills before they got me.
The moral of these stories is don't give in to these route hogging buggers, kill as many as you can before they get you :) Hairspray works great, gums up the wings and they fall out of the sky.
Rick
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rokshoxbkr19
Oct 24, 2003, 2:19 AM
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I was free soloing a route during the summer and a wasp flew out of the rock and stung me in my right bicep. I screamed like a little girl. It was really unexpected to feel that up there. Luckily I didn't freak out, but my arm really swelled up. I look like some muscle head, at least my right bicep look really big anyways. :lol:
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boltdude
Oct 24, 2003, 2:53 AM
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Stung 6 or 8 times in the head and neck on top of Middle Cathedral a few years back, my follower ran up the end of the pitch as fast as he could.
Good thing too, ran into a guy with lots of welts about a week later in Tuolumne. He'd been stung by the same yellowjackets at the exact same place, but his partner had still been at the belay, and they returned a second time, so he had around 15 stings.
Broke a hold off on easy terrain on a new route in Owens, and a scorpion ran out and around. So I was holding a 10 pound block in one hand (didn't want to drop it on my belayer), a good (i.e. still attached to the wall) hold in the other, with the little guy running around, luckily he hid in a corner right away. It was only 5.6 terrain, but I was about 40' out from the last pro and it would've been ugly if he'd stung me. We called the route "Scorpion."
Almost got in trouble bouldering along the wall along the Lower Gorge at Smith, trying to avoid bushwacking. Just before I reached into a pocket, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. Downclimbed and bushwacked past the 8 or 10 big black wasps hanging out in the pocket...
Just got nailed by yellowjackets again, while backing off from a rattlesnake. That wasn't on a route, but somewhere below Mt. Watkins in Tenaya canyon.
In the Valley, a king snake came down the wall above me, saw me, then did a 180 and went back up the wall.
But the weirdest is the "raining silverfish" in the Valley, happened to me on Central Pillar once, a shower of silverfish jumping off into your face, every time you reached for a jam...not toxic or anything, but annoying, and squishy...
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kimmyt
Oct 24, 2003, 12:54 PM
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Two weeks ago when I was climbing at the Gunks, apparently I got bit by a spider. I didn't see it, but it bit me right in the center of the calf. I thought it was just a skeeter bite at first, but then it got infected and started swelling and got all gross. But it cleared up and I didn't have to go to the doc's.
Other story, which didn't involve getting hurt or anything but reminded me of the silverfish story: I was bouldering (read: attempting to boulder and failing miserably) at this bunch of boulders near State College, PA. They were pretty neat, with all these little tiny pockets all over them (similar to those hueco things). We were all excited cause they looked like great holds: turns out in every single pocket there were two or three insect larva (pupa? I forgot my biology). They were everywhere. It was so nasty we couldn't even attempt it. I couldn't anyway.
K.
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jbird
Oct 24, 2003, 1:05 PM
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In reply to: I was stung twice this year at the Oakcreek Overlook. Once I was onsighting a 5.9 trad and about halfway up I reached out to a seductive looking side pull only to have about 15 wasp boil out of it. They gave pursuit all the way to the ground, but only one got me. The other was at the crux of a trad route, I gave battle for 5 minutes and got at least 4 confirmed kills before they got me. The moral of these stories is don't give in to these route hogging buggers, kill as many as you can before they get you :) Hairspray works great, gums up the wings and they fall out of the sky. Rick
Lysol.
Carry it with you at ALL times!!!!
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keinangst
Oct 24, 2003, 1:20 PM
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I was finishing up my very first 5.10 on TR a while back.
On the very last "10 move", I pulled hard on a 2-finger pocket only to dicover seconds later that I had just poked a wasps' nest. About 4 or 5 came out at the same time, and one managed to instantly find the inside of my lower lip.
I bailed--but as anyone bailing on TR knows, you don't exactly go anywhere. I somehow managed to communicate to the belayer to get me the f**k out of there ASAP :wink:
Spent the rest of the day looking like I had been in a fight 8)
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mistymountainhop
Oct 24, 2003, 1:31 PM
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Yesterday I was sporting a fat 10a route, i reached into a huge pocket and instantly something slimy and wet jumped at me and hit my face. i was totally freaked cause i didnt know what the hell it was. Turned out of was a tree frog. Pretty innocent, but it scared the hell out of me.
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imnotclever
Oct 24, 2003, 1:45 PM
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My first story:
I was belaying my partner's first sport lead on an easy 5.7, when I hear this thud about 5' away from me. It was a snake that must have been sunning it self on the cliff and had fallen off. There are timber rattelers in the area but I didn't see any rattle.
Well not wanting to mess with my partner on his first lead, I just watched the thing to see what is was going to do. The fall must have knocked it out or something because it didn't move until after I had lowered my partner. A couple of minutes later it crawled away as if nothing happened.
My other story:
I have been allergic to honey bees since I was about 3 yrs old. My dad is a teacher and as a summer hobby/job he had about 400 hives. When you need your sons to help with the bees you have to get around this allergy thing. So I used to have to get stung a lot and on a regular basis. This builds up your resistance to allergic reactions.
I haven't been stung since 1994 and have never been stung by a wasp so I don't know if I'd have a reaction.
Let me tell you this, nothing helps you get past the crux move faster than that familliar sound comming from the crack that your hand is in. This happend to me this summer.
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cracklover
Oct 24, 2003, 2:12 PM
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Climbing at the Gunks. Guy on the climb before me freaks out, says there's a snake in the crack, and comes down. His partner goes up to clean the route, and doesn't see any snake (we exchange one of those "he's wacked" looks). My parter leads the route, no problem, and as I'm seconding it, the bat (not snake) decides he's had enough people shoving their hands in his face while he's trying to sleep and bites me, then sticks his head out of the crack and "clicks" at me too. I finished the climb without any more trouble, but let me tell you, those rabies shots are a pain in the ass! (get it? a pain in the... oh nevermind)
GO
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buzzard
Oct 24, 2003, 2:42 PM
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Here is something you can do with your pack. This is what we did. While we were camping one night my buddies pack got sprayed by a skunk. that same night oine of the other campers that knew us, but didn't get along with us told the park ranger that we were smoking some pot. So the next morning we took the pack and put it under his front seat in his car. It took him a while to figure out what it was. But needless to say it stunk up his whole car. Just an idea for ya.
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thegreytradster
Oct 24, 2003, 2:51 PM
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The large ants in yosemite. Nothing like spending a 1/2 hour with them in a belay tree.
I LOVE THE SMELL OF FORMIC ACID IN THE MORNING!
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cracklover
Oct 24, 2003, 2:55 PM
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In reply to: The large ants in yosemite. Nothing like spending a 1/2 hour with them in a belay tree. I LOVE THE SMELL OF FORMIC ACID IN THE MORNING!
If they bite you, bite back! You're bigger than they are, and they taste like little lemon drops. :)
GO
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thegreytradster
Oct 24, 2003, 3:19 PM
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In reply to: If they bite you, bite back! You're bigger than they are, and they taste like little lemon drops. :) GO
Never been desperate enough to try that. Never been stuck in a tree that long! :shock:
You can also use the heads/ pincers for natural sutures for gobys. Just apply and pluck them little heads off :)
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capn_morgan
Oct 24, 2003, 3:27 PM
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had to beat down a small wasp nest up in the daks while aiding a short climb. it was chilly so they werent to active and between the nut tool and a hex they didnt have a chance :twisted: . Got stung plenty working on a roofing crew last summer though. Ran a skill saw through a hornets nest whille trimming some siding...they werent very appreciative and i got acouple good ones as i ran across the staging. still have a scar from one of those stings. white face hornets are a nasty bunch.
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flagstaff_climber
Oct 24, 2003, 3:32 PM
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In reply to: In reply to: If they bite you, bite back! You're bigger than they are, and they taste like little lemon drops. :) GO Never been desperate enough to try that. Never been stuck in a tree that long! :shock: You can also use the heads/ pincers for natural sutures for gobys. Just apply and pluck them little heads off :)
Now that is hard core !
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renobdarb
Oct 24, 2003, 3:53 PM
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There is a limestone climb in my area named Killer Wasps from Hell... it's called that for a reason...
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mreardon
Oct 24, 2003, 4:08 PM
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A few minor stories:
Belaying a friend at Malibu Creek, when a bee dropped onto my thigh from a nest that had been around for about a year, rolled over and stung me. I went up and got rid of that nest with a couple friends the following week.
Was soloing "Creature from the Black Lagoon" at Tuolmne (basically a high boulder problem over water) and passed the largest lizard I've ever seen down low, then had to delicately move past a curled up snake buried in the handjam at the top.
This last year I have had three incidents with bears trying to cuddle with me. The first at Tuolomne where the bear pushed half my tent in over my sleeping body (insert Darth Vader impression here), then at the Needles where my wife found out she did a midnight pee next to a bear, and recently up in Idyllwild when I woke up to a bear print on the back window of my car where she stood up and checked in on my sleeping body. So stay tuned, it sounds like I'll have a bear story soon enough....
Now bats, I seem to have plenty of bat stories, but never bit.
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foograbbinstone
Oct 24, 2003, 4:22 PM
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Wasssaaabbiii !!!,
Tcollins, Jumaringjeff and myself were climbing in AZ.- McDowells/ Hanging Garden. While leading the 2nd pitch , I stuck my hand in a crack and was greeted by half a dozen cacti needles making a new home in my hand. PLucked out the few I could make out with my teeth and carried on! If I remember correctly I had a couple linger for a few days!! There was probably alittle good natured complaining had on my part ,you might ask them though on that my memory goes and comes with the tide !!1
Lesson to be had from this:: Always try to eye a crack before jamming your hand in there........ You kust don't know where that cracks been!!!!
:lol: :lol: 8)
foo
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wetrocks
Oct 24, 2003, 4:38 PM
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A couple of weeks back I was climbing a route at my limit. I was desperately trying to climb to this pocket where I could rest and shake off the pump. Well when I reached into this hold that I had been looking forward to I felt something kinda soft and crunchy. I pulled myself up and looked in and right at that second out came the wasps. HOLY S**T
Traverse, traverse, move you slow bastard is all I was thinking. The swarm was out. I inched myself away from the buzzing mass. Get off me, not my ear....ahhhhhh this sucks!
Barley on the rock, sweaty hands, off route, good fun.....but I made it away from the nest and kept climbing. When an experience.
About 15 meters up was another pocket where I could recover from this episode. I reached in again, only to feel that same soft crunchy feeling...out came round two! It was too much, all focus was now broken, nerves were shot, hands soaked, I was temporarily reincarnated as Elvis.
I pitched off.
I've climbed the route since with a slight variation. I'm now very suspicious of sweet looking pockets.
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calfcramp
Oct 24, 2003, 5:07 PM
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Yep,
It was on my first multipitch on a newly developed section of the crag. My leader made it to the top of the second pitch without any problem. Then I followed and reached into a huge flake sidepull that my leader had used. Turned out the be the entrance to a wasps nest.
Got stung on the index finger, freaked out, jumped off the climb and started running pendulum style watching the swarm build. Couldn't decide if they would calm down or not:
"Lower me! Lower me!!!!!"
"No wait, I thinks its alrigh...."
"Yeeeee!! LOwer me!!!!"
"Hold on...."
"Ahhhhhhh!!!! FAster! Faster!!! WHoaaaaaa!!!"
Great fun.
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oldguy
Oct 24, 2003, 5:55 PM
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Last weekend we were climbing at Wilton (central missouri). I was watching a climber above when I see a snake flying my direction. Not wanting to be like the Cubs fan, I avoided catching it - barely. It was a black rat snake that had a bat in its mouth. Both snake and bat were stunned from the 70 ft. fall. A bit later the snake revived and went away. The bat recovered and flew off.
An hour later, on a different route the same thing happened. A snake came flying down the cliff right next to the climber and landed at our feet. Again it had a bat with it. After reviving, the snake hung around apparently wanting the bat. We pushed the bat near the snake. After a bit, the snake grabbed the bat and rolled up into a ball around it and promptly rolled down the hill.
I believe our climbing disturbed the bats which then attracted the snakes. Once was totally weird. Twice was just too much.
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sixter
Oct 24, 2003, 6:27 PM
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This thread gave me a good laugh. :-D I needed that.
The closest I have come to anything like mentioned was whenI was in the Buttermilks bouldering a few weeks back. We bouldered until the sun had set, and it was dark. I, being the genius I am, left my headlamp in my tent back at camp. The people I was bouldering with were parked in a different area than me, so we part ways, and I am walking towards my car, not a care in the world, when, for the first time in my life, I hear a *rattle rattle rattle* Sacred the shazam out of me. I doubled my previous vertical leap record, and decided to follow the path my friends took to their car, and follow the road back to mine.
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rodeomountain
Oct 24, 2003, 6:49 PM
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On my first trad lead I was having trouble all day keeping my hands from coming out of the crack (not very good at hand jamming), I reached over a bulge to the next crack and saw something thing that looked like a snakes tail flicker. I tried to bail but my hand wouldn't come out of the crack for nothin. I was screaming SNAKE to my belayer and he colmly said "If he wanted to bite you he would have already done it". I then turn around to see it was just a horny-toad lizard.
In the Sandias I had a humming bird buzzing the tower all the way up 4 1/3 pitches. I just knew he was going to crash and burn into my helmet before I topped out. He would even get as brave as to stop and stair at me for a few seconds before taking off again.
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rvega
Oct 24, 2003, 7:08 PM
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In reply to: I woulda replied to this one but its rvega`s
Damn! Don't be a hater. :cry:
What did I say to you that would make you say such a thing. What ever it was I probably meant it. :wink:
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craggy
Oct 24, 2003, 7:25 PM
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yuppers,
I've been stung by a wasp on my leg when I was just learning how to trad climb. That was horrible! I nearly fell off in shock.
Been bitten a million times by black flies and mosquitos...
that's about it...
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alpnclmbr1
Oct 24, 2003, 8:15 PM
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A year in the life of Mira the climber dog:
Got bit in the hind leg by a rattler at Jack's Canyon
4 months later she got quilled by a porcupine at Rifle. Badly, her mouth looked like freddy kruger
3 months later she got bit between the eyes by a rattler at Cochise Stronghold. Her head swelled up so much she looked like a saint bernard.
This was in the middle of a multi year roadtrip, but by any standard it was a bad year for her, to say the least. She completely recovered and is doing fine now.
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rvega
Oct 24, 2003, 8:58 PM
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In reply to: A year in the life of Mira the climber dog: Got bit in the hind leg by a rattler at Jack's Canyon 4 months later she got quilled by a porcupine at Rifle. Badly, her mouth looked like freddy kruger 3 months later she got bit between the eyes by a rattler at Cochise Stronghold. Her head swelled up so much she looked like a saint bernard. This was in the middle of a multi year roadtrip, but by any standard it was a bad year for her, to say the least. She completely recovered and is doing fine now.
WOW! :D What a dog! Living in Arizona is always tough for dogs: snakes, centipedes, & porcupines. My dog once got bit by a rattler and then immediately kicked by my horse (it was trying to kick the snake). :cry: It was a bad day for her. She lived but was paralyzed from the waste down.
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t-dog
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Oct 24, 2003, 9:17 PM
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I got stung on the big toe belyaing at Malibu once (I was barefoot to allow my toes to recover). Fortunately I was using a gri-gri, so nothing bad happened.
After the climber finished the climb, I put my hiking shoes back on and promptly went on a rampage trampling all bees flying below six inches. Man did that make my toe feel better !!!!! :twisted:
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jacob
Oct 24, 2003, 9:21 PM
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lets see,
I've been pooped on by swallows when I was buildering my front porch.
(kinda askin' for it though)
On a hike to the crag, I was walking behind my friend, when I saw I small green garden snake(2' max) It was slithering right along side my friend. It slithered between his legs and I yelled" DAVID DAVID!! SNAKE SNAKE!!" Any way, he jumped straight up and grabbed the nearest treeltree limb was freaked out and I was just laughin. He jumped pretty high for wearin a thirty pound pack.
at a crag there were some crazy rock squirrels that could run straight up the wall. Or they jump from trees onto the wall, and shake leaves down on us.
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potreroed
Oct 25, 2003, 12:38 AM
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I used to do a lot of soloing at Devil's Lake but always on routes that I was familiar with. The first time I decided to solo a route unknown to me I was attacked by wasps about 2/3 of the way up--got stung about 30 times--didn't get to enjoy the beautiful jam crack to the top!!
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quickclips
Oct 25, 2003, 1:01 AM
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Mine is at Devils lake also. I've been stung there I few times, one few up my pants and got me in the leg, two went down my shirt and got me right next to my nipple, and Ive been stung in the hands while jaming. Oh and bats are fun too.
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grog
Oct 25, 2003, 1:11 AM
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There was an angry colony of wasps at horne lake that used to attack me all the time on the descent trail. The worst time was 6-7 stings on my left ankle, followed by a two hour drive home. I couldnt walk for a while :) We were also spooked by a family of bears trundling by while bouldering. Some jerks had parked on the road to watch, we had no clue what they were pointing at until a bear came around the corner. Those pricks didnt even shout a warning.
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oregonclimber
Oct 25, 2003, 2:02 AM
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Several years ago, (about 1997) I was on the fourth pitch of Outer Space in Leavenworth, and was on an easy lead. When I pulled up to the belay ledge there was a rattler sitting on the ledge having a nice sun. I don't know how in the hell he got there, but I took a nice little fall as I just about jumped out of my harness. Needless to say, I found another spot to belay.
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herm
Oct 25, 2003, 2:58 AM
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On the third pitch of the Rostrum, my partner was running it out and grabbed a rattler. He screamed and took an 80'+ whipper and sprained his ankle.
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gene
Oct 25, 2003, 3:00 AM
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was leading some route in the Red River Gorge (forgot the name ...), and got stung in the eye (well, actually the eyelid ....) by a hornet. I hung on, slapped the crap out of myself until said hornet was a pile of goo (to the surprise and delighted chuckles of my companions) and finished the route (didn't wanna lose my onsight of course :) ...) - was actually a little bit proud of myself.
Another time, was belaying a buddy in Austin at Beehive wall (can you guess the end of THIS story???). The hive looked quite large that day, but we figured we could climb to the bolt below it, and then lower off. Well, my poor buddy Ed got 5 or 6 bees stuck in his long hair, and they stung the crap out of his head while he flailed and I lowered.
Good time was had by all .....
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climbracer
Oct 25, 2003, 12:18 PM
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On the approach to a climb, I got stung about 30 times by a swarm of wasps that my partner stirred up as he walked ahead of me in the woods. We were taking a shortcut off the trail to the rock. I saw one wasp and then they were all over me, in my hair and stinging me through my clothes. I poured a beer over my head to cool down the pain on my scalp and my partner got a little pissed that I wasted the beer. Then, we headed back home as soon as possible. I took several 25 mg benadryl capsules that night along with beer. I was getting urticaria (red raised rash) all over and my legs were twitching with muscle spasms. I put toothpaste, baking soda, cold washclothes and even onion slices on my stings that night. (The onion slice cure came off the internet.) I always carry benedryl in my backpack now. I wanted to get a bee sting kit, but my doctor thought I wouldn't have it when I need it and they expire. I don't believe my doctor realizes how often I go off the beaten path, for miles into the woods. From now on if I see one bee or wasp on the trail, I go around it. And, if I see bees or wasps on a climb, I climb much, much faster.
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lou_dale
Oct 25, 2003, 1:12 PM
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i have been stung and bit but thankGOD, i have NOT been skunked yet.
while on lost wall in north georgia, i was so cool (so I thought) that i had to let my hair blow in the breeze. now, i have very curly hair so i had this bushy blond thang going on and at that time, it was shoulder length.
needless to say - the yellow jackets that were buzzing around my head (probably just curious as to what kind of yellow flower this is - blond hair, i mean.....) - and while i'm looking cool, they got STUCK in this bushy net of mine.......and when they couldn't get out???? well, they took the only action they knew and they stung me........on my neck.....so i'm up there screaming, my husband Dale is lowering me down, then proceeds to force gallons of benedryl down me (i'm allergic to bees)....so i can barely walk back to the truck. what a day!
then the time we went to table rock at linville gorge - i was bitten by those biting fly things.......i say fly things because they looked more like mutants than flies. i'm cleaning a route while going, "OW.....OW......OW.....OW.." i didn't fall; i didn't drop gear; i did make it to the ledge......but looked like a pin cushion by the time i got there.
getting skunked? last time i even saw one, i heard somebody say, "ohhhhhh look at that cute kitty....." i made tracks and put distance between me and that voice to avoid that one!
another day in the life...................of LOU. life is good. :D
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phyre
Oct 25, 2003, 1:45 PM
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I had a yellowjacket fly out of a small two finger pocket that I had my fingers in. The pocket was right in front of my face on the crux and it came out and hit me square between the eyes. Scared the $#!^ out of me. because you don't expect something to be moving when you put your fingers in a hole.
phyre
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buttets
Oct 25, 2003, 3:36 PM
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Well, yes I have been stung by a Wasp on the East Buttress of El Cap this year and a few days later attacked by bears at the base of Halfdome - one pack was ripped to shreads.
Years back I got to the top of a climb near Greatfalls, MT and found a rattler basking in the sun. Quick hand work brushed him off to the side...
At the same location cranking on a crack. I found it a bit sharp and kept putting my finger back into the same spot trying to find a less painful position. Finally removed my finger and found a bat on the end of it! Didn't puncture the skin though - I was lucky!!
In the Tetons my climbing partner was attacked by a grouse? It just didn't like him at all and kept attacking for at least a half mile. It must have liked me as it would run by me and attack him - lololol
Found a rat nesting on Mescolito about 2000 feet up the face in a crack. It was tricky gettin past him!!
The strangest thing was being covered with butterflys on the North face of the Eiger near the Ramp above the 3rd ice field. There were thousands of them for about 10 minutes landing on us the rock and everything else - really wild!!!!!!!!
Dwight
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sonso45
Oct 25, 2003, 8:12 PM
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I was at Paradise Forks a few years back TR'ing Watusi. I dyno to the slot hand jam from a tips crack and land right on a wasp nest. The wasps flying out reminded me of the Star Wars fighter ships aiming for my head, which probably looked like the Death Star to them. Felt like being hit by a baseball bat, I couldn't lower fast enough. M
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sammatt
Oct 25, 2003, 9:06 PM
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This didn't happen to me, but a pretty good incident nonetheless.
My friend Giorgio took him mother out to watch him climb on a boulder at Avigliano, near Torino, Italy. He had just gotten into climbing and wanted to show her how safe it was, to assuage her fears.
Giorgio cruised up a problem, and as he was heel-hooking to get established over the lip, a viper bit him on his heel. His mom had to rush him to the emergency room, and as far as I know, she hasn't come out to watch him climb since.
Occhio a le vipere!
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freudian
Oct 25, 2003, 9:29 PM
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(1)
My first year climbing, I was half way up a route, top roping a 5.6 and a bee or large hornet decided that it would land on me. It landed on the bulge in my shorts. Luckily the bulge was just that material buldge, so if he tried to sting me, it would just have been cotton and air, but still... that's not a nice place to land.
I swatted it away really quickly and then it flew up 10 feet above me and landed on the climbing rope and proceeded to walk up the rope. Show off!
(2)
My second year climbing, I was at the first belay ledge for a route called "Reindeerland". I was anchored into a birch tree while my other two partners were around the corner over the cliff and couldn't see me. This hornet decided to start pestering me. I'm a little cautious where stinging things such as hornets are concerned... So I'm tied into a rope and can't get away, esp. since I'm half way up a route, no where to run. All of a sudden, my partners her me yell out, "What do you think I am, a tree?". They weren't sure what was going on. When they came around to find out what's going on, I explained that a hornet was buzzing around me and I wanted to somehow get it to leave, but was afraid if I swore at it or raised my voice too much, it might sense that I'm being hostile... resulting it trying to sting me. In frustration I had yelled out that now famous line between the 3 of us climbers, "What do you think I am, a tree?".
It's really funny between us, maybe some of you will see the humour in it.
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jellybean
Oct 25, 2003, 9:51 PM
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About three years ago, I went on my first outdoor climbing trip. We went to this place called Devils Tower in Hungary. There was a bees nest at the top of the tower, and we had been bothering them all day because of the topropes we put up. On my last route, when I got to the top, the whole pack of them started attacking me. I got stung all over my head, and a couple times on the arm, leg and back. I had the worst headache from the stings imaginable. It was the most painful moment of my life.
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alpinerock
Oct 26, 2003, 12:42 AM
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I was leading Stotic Calclus in AF canyon, i was running it out to the chains cause i had miscounted the number of bolts when i put my hand into a pocket, when suddenly i heard a buzzing sound, it was a yellow jacket nest. I completed the lead, but was stung 7 times on my arm.
Another time I was hiking down from lone peak with some friends, I was in the middle when my friend in front of me yelled "SNAKE" and quickly moved out of the way as i dived and caught this snake, i then heard a rattling sound, and found just in time that i had grabbed a baby ratteler
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robmcc
Oct 26, 2003, 2:58 AM
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In reply to: The moral of these stories is don't give in to these route hogging buggers, kill as many as you can before they get you :) Hairspray works great, gums up the wings and they fall out of the sky.
I'm just not going to ask why you climb with hairspray. Ok, yes I will. What the heck do you climb with hairspray for? :)
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melekzek
Oct 26, 2003, 5:23 AM
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I didnt get stung, but one of my climbing partners, mert, got. Last summer,three of us were on a 4 pitch climb, a mixed route with first two pitches on gear and the rest bolt clipping.He led the first pitch, going to far to the left, which is common on this pitch. I took the second lead, traversing to right, but couldnt reach the bolted belay, and setup a semihanging belay. olive climbs as the second, reaches the belay, and mert starts the traverse. Than he tells me that he got stung by .... err.... the azz. Olive and I made fun of him, laughed a lot, than started waiting for him. He moved a little, than stopped. He told me that he is not feeling well, his voice shaking. Oooh, we are in trouble. I fix him, and take the second rope from olive, explained her what we are going to do and rappeled down to mert traversing. He created an anchor as much as he could, but he is almost fainting. I checked the anchor, told olive to release my rope such that mert can use to rappel. I cannot remember whether he does the rappel or I lowered him, but fortunate enough a single rappel was enough to reach the ground. At the same time some of our friends come by to watch us climb, and took mert to their care. I climbed up with the rope I got from mert to olive, we reached to ground in 2 rappels.
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climbalon
Oct 26, 2003, 6:26 AM
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What do you mean you don't understand about his hairspray comment. How else do you look good for all those posed shots. I even made a little holster out of webbing for my hairspray can so i can apply it while on route.
~Alon
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therelic
Oct 26, 2003, 6:36 AM
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A couple of times I have reached up and grabbed a pocket which felt like it was full of Styrofoam. The next thing I felt was something crawling on my hand and arm, in fact many things crawling on my hand and arm. With the buzzing around my head and the electric shocks on my hand and arm It didn't take long to realize I had just crunched a paper wasp nest. The first time I gladly took a 20 foot whipper the next time I crushed and smashed as many of those critters as I could then finished the climb. Of course the second time I was also finished climbing for the day because my hand was too sore to climb with anymore.
Another time after finishing a route I gathered up my rope bag, started to reach inside it to stuff the rope into it when I thought I felt something inside the bag. I shook the bag and out came a two foot long rattler with 5 rattles.
Then there was the Peregrine Falcon attack. I didn't know they had moved their nest from the previous year and when I got close to the huge bucket near the top of the route they clearly let me know I wasn't going to be getting back on that route for the rest of the summer.
Bill
_____________________________________
It may be the only purpose of your life is to serve as a warning to others.
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